Man who tried to suffocate mother has sentence suspended

A MAN, who admitted trying to suffocate his mother, has had the remainder of his prison sentence suspended.

Judge John Aylmer suspended the remaining 16 months of Thomas Farrelly’s sentence on several conditions including that he finish his treatment at the Central Mental Hospital and continue to take medication prescribed to him.

The 42-year-old had been detained at the facility under the Mental Health Act since July last year as part of his bail conditions.

In the early hours of October 27, 2022, Olive Farrelly was woken in her bed at her home in Ranrenagh, Ballyjamesduff, by a hand cupped over her mouth and nose and someone pressing her head into her pillow.

“I couldn’t breathe, I thought I was going to die,” her statement to gardaí at the time said. “I knew it was Thomas because I could hear him breathing. I said: ‘Thomas stop it, you’re going to kill me’. He then went to his room, and I locked my door.”

A photograph was handed in evidence at the arraignment hearing for Thomas Farrelly in Cavan Circuit Court on June 19, which showed Mrs Farrelly’s injuries from the assault, which included bruising and minor cuts. Thomas Farrelly was arrested in Ballyjamesduff in the days that followed when he “acknowledged he needed help for his mental health and agreed to go to Cavan General Hospital for treatment”, investigating garda Padraig Murtagh’s statement read.

When barrister for the state, Monica Lawlor SC, asked if Thomas Farrelly had any previous convictions, Detective Garda Carney said, apart from a road traffic offence, he was found not guilty by reason of insanity by a jury in 2024 for assaulting a man in a pub with a glass bottle just days before the assault on his mother.

Farrelly was originally remanded in custody to the Midlands Prison after he was unable to provide a bail address where he could reside pending his court hearings.

Following a contested bail application on July 12 last year, he was ordered to be held at the Central Mental Hospital under the Mental Health Act and bail set at €100 and on the condition that he remain at the facility.

The 42-year-old sat between his mother and sister and brothers when he came from the hospital to appear at Cavan Circuit Court last week to be arraigned on one indictment of assault causing harm to Olive Farrelly. Defence barriser, Niamh Murtagh-Quinn, said Thomas’ mother tried to withdraw her statement.

“They all share a very, very close relationship,” she said. “Their main concern is the welfare of their son and brother.”

And asking Judge John Aylmer to structure any sentence for Mr Farrelly around his mental health and treatment, Ms Murtagh-Quinn said: “He has already spent 20 months and 11 days in custody.

“Mr Farrelly has significant mental health issues but in terms of his attitude to the charge, he is very ashamed of his behaviour,” the counsel said. The barrister added: “He was hearing someone tell him to do what he did.”

Judge John Aylmer referenced a “very helpful” report compiled by a consultant psychologist at the Central Mental Hospital, which diagnosed Mr Farrelly with treatment-resistent schizophrenia.

“It is a very serious matter any young man who attacks his mother and clearly attempts to suffocate her and one that calls for the headline sentence of four years’ imprisonment before mitigating circumstances,” Judge Aylmer said, “but the mitigating circumstances are very strong in this case.”

Acknowledging Thomas Farrelly’s early plea of guilty by reason of insanity and in “deference to his mother who doesn’t want to traumatise him further,” Judge Aylmer said the “principal mitigating circumstance is the content of the consultant psychologist’s report which says Mr Farrelly is doing very well” and the judge reduced Thomas Farrelly’s sentence to three years.

And, giving him credit for all the time spent in custody already, the judge suspended the balance of Farrelly’s sentence rounded up to 16 months on the condition that he enter recognisance of his own €100 bond, be on good behaviour for the remainder of his suspended sentence and “complies with all the advice of his mental health team and continues to take his medication”.

“He is released on suspension today to return to the Central Mental Hospital to continue his treatment there,” Judge Aylmer concluded.